


I've got faith in you now

by Fatale (femme)



Series: happy malec ficlets [6]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, post episode season 3 episode10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 13:26:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14895444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/femme/pseuds/Fatale
Summary: At Magnus’ irritated grunt, Alec stops in his tracks and comes over to Magnus.“Need some help?” Alec asks, slipping his jacket off and tossing it carelessly across the back of the couch.---Alec paints Magnus' fingernails.





	I've got faith in you now

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Faith by Stevie Wonder 
> 
> See the boy with the Stevie Wonder swag?  
> Ain't gotta cup all the magic that he has  
> He's a go-getter, he's everybody's type  
> Imma make it my mission, make him feel alright  
> He's a twelve on a ten point, rockin' out to his joint  
> Just say the word 'cause I can sing all night
> 
> eta: [translated into Russian!](https://ficbook.net/readfic/7008690)

 

Magnus curses softly, fingernail scraping at the tender edge of a nailbed, scratching away smudged nail polish. It was so much easier when he could use magic to match his polish to his outfit. Now he has to polish his fingers like a _mundane_. Magnus supposes he could technically go to a nail salon, but there are some indignities that aren’t to be borne.

Alec’s heading to the Institute, dressed in a lovely lavender shirt and black suit. He looks both happy and like he's on his way to a funeral.

Magnus shakes his head and grimaces down at his sloppy thumb. He has decently steady hands, but the brush goes left when he goes right. Ever since giving up his magic, he’s felt oddly fragile, like his skin was made for a larger skeleton and he’s no longer big enough to fill it. Magnus soaks a cotton round in nail polish remover and takes off the streaky color with angry, sloppy swipes.

At Magnus’ irritated grunt, Alec stops in his tracks and comes over to investigate.

“Need some help?” Alec asks, slipping his jacket off and tossing it carelessly across the back of the couch.

“Aren’t you going to be late for work?”

“What good is being boss if you can be late once in a while?” Alec says, unbuttoning and rolling up his sleeves, giving up midway and just shoving them above his elbows. They're going to be hopelessly wrinkled later, but it’s such a fetching look on him that Magnus can’t bring himself to chide Alec for his carelessness.

He takes the bottle of nail polish from Magnus, pointedly ignoring Magnus' suspicious glare. Is Alec--is Alec _mocking him_?

Alec checks to make sure the cap is on tight, then gives it a little shake.

Magnus raises his eyebrows in surprise. “Big bad Shadowhunter paints nails?”

“Izzy once broke her hand. It healed up quickly with an Iratze, but her hand ached too much to hold the brush steady for a few days. She was mad about having to go to a party with chipped up nails, so I polished them for her. After that, when she was sad, sometimes I‘d paint her nails to cheer her up. I stopped when I realized--" Alec hesitates "-- when someone pointed out it wasn't something a boy should do.”

“And now?” Magnus asks, unsure if he should. He doesn’t like Alec to stew in things that trouble him longer than he has to.

Alec looks up at him, grins shyly. His eyes are clear and untroubled. “I like this glitter polish. It's one of my favorites on you. Have I ever told you that?”

“Point taken,” Magnus says, watching Alec’s head bent low as he dips the brush into the bottle, wipes off the excess, carefully applies a thin coat, then starts on the other hand while he waits for the first coat to dry. Magnus studies his nails. Alec is pretty damn good. “If this Shadowhunting gig doesn’t pan out for you, you always have a second career as a nail tech.”

Alec laughs. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He applies another coat then picks up Magnus’ hand in his own and gently blows on the nails. Oh, yes. People would pay good money for this, Magnus thinks, staring down the deliberate lines of Alec’s face, his perpetually displeased eyebrows, the lush swell of his bottom lip.

“I _am_ pretty good, huh?” Alec says with a small grin, pulling back and examining his handiwork. He’s so rarely proud of himself that Magnus feels something in himself expand and unfurl, filling up his body and reaching out towards Alec. It’s the same feeling he had the first time he saw him; it’s this inexplicable connection to someone that you know is going to be important to you, if not exactly how.

He can’t place a name to it, doesn’t even try. Some things defy explanation.

But there is a great power in love, too.

“The best,” Magnus says, sure that he's being gross and sappy and a little ridiculous and not caring one bit. “You’re the absolute _best_ ,” he says again, leaning forward and kissing Alec, careful not to smudge his nails, murmuring the words into Alec's soft mouth.

 

 


End file.
